Environment Canada cuts threaten science, international agreements

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Recent cuts to the scientific workforce of Environment Canada, a government agency responsible for meteorological services and environmental research, threaten scientific research related to the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere and pollution in the lower atmosphere, according to environmental scientists in the U.S. These reductions in personnel and projected budget cuts also threaten existing international agreements.

"Canada is a bellwether for environmental change, not only for Arctic ozone
depletion but for pollutants that stream to North America from other continents,
" said Anne Thompson, professor of meteorology, Penn State. "It is unthinkable
that data collection is beginning to shut down in this vast country, in some
cases at stations that started decades ago."